Cool, you'r going to study illustration, yeah me too! I went to the HKU opendag in Utrecht a few weeks back, but I didn't like it very much. I also went to Minerva in Groningen. But I'm planning to do admission at WDKA in Rotterdam. I like that school the most. You schould check out some other schools (if you didn't do that already), that way you have more choice

This is a character design I had to make for my admission at Willem de Kooning Art Acadamy. I was inspired by an article I found about japanese teens who wear weird costumes, or dress like their favorite manga character and harajuku fashion. I changed form my original sketch during to process in photoshop, one of the reasons why I worked way too long on this one.

I'd say you could work a little on the background, nothing big, but just have it not so bright maybe? That might make the place where the edge of the face and the background meet less erm.. hard? Less attracting the eye? (don't know how to say it, hope you understand ) Also how the neck is attached to the shoulders is a little wonky, plus I'd say the neck is too long. I think if you get the neck a little less long, and maybe move the shoulder and arm downward just a bit, it would be a definite improvement.
Also if you are not completely fed up with this yet, you might want to consider getting some awesome crits on it from peeps in the critique section?

Oh and about the "open dagen" for schools.. It's funny how we didn't meet each other, because I also went to the Minerva open dag, the HKU one, and the Willem de Kooning one.. I also liked Willem de Kooning best, but it is 2,5 hours by train to get there from where I want to live, and I really really want to live there. I've been going over and over it though, and if the HKU really dissapoints me I'll have to try something else..

Oh well, I really hope you'll get in, but you probably will, seeing as your work is so completely 600% much better than the average Dutch person applying to art studies..

Love,
Marleen.

EDIT: Oh, I've just noticed: her left (our right) arm looks a little too short.. It might now be, but in the sketch it is definitely too short.. I usually measure that the length shoulder-elbow should be approximately the length shoulder-waist, but since the shoulder is a little high, the elbow will be a little higher as well.. I'm just not sure if it's supposed to be this high. Ah well, no biggie, just wanted to point you to the possibility I guess.
Oh yeah, forgot to mention that I think that the image itself is absulotelu gorgeous, and really well finished!

NoŽ - thank you. I do try traditional paint at my figure drawing/painting class. I'm just too lazy to take pictures of them. So specially for you I made pictures of my most recent oil studies. First one is on duplex paper , second on canvas (yes I had the best view). As you can see I'm not that good at oils yet, but I do like to work with it. I have another portrait, but it's still at the atelier.

Nice work!
I feel honoured that you took pictures of these especially for me
I like how you mixed skintones in the right one, I guess the background seems a little busy, but hey they're only studies
I think I'm gonna try some oils again soon, up until now I've liked acrylics better, but I didn't try oils long enough to give it up now ^^
About the view: yeah you get them sometimes can't really do anything about it eh?

NoŽ - Thanks. I haven't done acrylics that much. All I know is that it dries much quicker than oils.

Last Sunday I went to the biggest dutch sketchmeeting ever! We where with 3 people: Yoitisi, Teh Gosu and me. Too bad the others couldn't come. But it was a fun day. We went to the zoo to draw the animals. Here are some sketches:

Yay there they are Hey Merlin! Was great meeting you and Jelle, shame indeed that there weren't more people.

I like those painting a few posts up, though the left one is off balance. For the creature sketches, it might help to use more lines to define the shape. Working with one perfect line to get it is good, but only really works if you know the subject well enough to catch every little nuance of the shape.

Aaaaaaw common thats too good for 20 years ... Your portaying skills are heardcore, how long are you studying that actually ...? I really love this pink sketch, one of your earlier posts, this girl looks just adorable ...

Really enjoy the figure paintings and the sb pages. remember to just keep in mind simple shapes and angles to nail down those figures. first generalize it and then add the details necessary to make it interesting. Keep at it!

yoitisi - It was great meeting you too. yeah it is a bit off balance. Went a bit wrong when I did the legs. Maybe gesture studies would be a good thing for me to do. Cya at the Hellmouth Sketch Meeting 8)

motives - Thanks. I'll never stop

lord_regenschirm - Danke. I'm not that good, I still have got lots of things to learn.

I've been drawing ever since I can remember. When I was 17 I found CA.org. From that moment on I started drawing more and more seriously, and still doing so.

Mitchell - Thanks. Yeah need to think about simple shapes more.

Brashen - Thank you!

Update. First 3 pages are non reference, except for the hands on the first page.